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Senior Administration Organizational Announcement from the Chancellor

Author(s)

Rebecca Chopp

Letter

•

December 4, 2014

Dear Friends,

During my first 100 days as chancellor, I have talked with hundreds of people, including many of you, and read the many thoughtful emails, letters, and responses to our "Chatting with Chopp" series. I am more convinced than ever that this community wants to make even greater strides in educating our wonderful students, in becoming a more diverse and inclusive community, in creating knowledge, and in serving the public good. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and, please, let's continue to talk.

After listening deeply to your concerns and aspirations, I have decided to create a senior-level position to support and represent our goals in creating the best possible educational environment for our students and building an inclusive community for all of us. I am excited to announce a new position, vice chancellor for Campus Life and Inclusive Excellence, whose responsibility will be threefold:

To provide leadership in expanding our diverse and inclusive environment

To develop innovative strategies to support all our students—undergraduate, graduate and professional; and

To coordinate compliance of student-related policies across all our units with state and federal regulations.

The vice chancellor for Campus Life and Inclusive Excellence will staff the Board of Trustees Student Affairs Committee, serve on the chancellor's senior staff, oversee the Division of Student Life and the Center for Multicultural Excellence, and work closely with student services in our graduate and professional schools. I have great hopes that by conducting a national search for this new position, we will add substantially to the expertise of and support for the many on our campus who work in these critical areas. The new position will report directly to me; in the interim, Student Life and CME will continue reporting to Provost Kvistad.

I also want to use this opportunity to share with you an organizational change at the senior level. First, I have asked Vice Chancellor for Business and Financial Affairs Craig Woody to work with Information Technology (UTS) to ensure its integration into our administrative services. The goal is to provide IT with the same operational, budget and administrative support that other Universitywide services such as Facilities receive. Given the continued challenges to optimize technology with other infrastructure components in the University, Vice Chancellor Woody, with his knowledge and experience, will contribute greatly in this area. Associate Vice Chancellor for IT Cindy Crouch will report to Vice Chancellor Woody and will continue to be an integral member of the senior staff.

At the same time, I will assume working more closely with the Office of Human Resources. I have long been committed to working closely with HR since I believe strongly that staff, as well as faculty and students, are the greatest strategic resources we have. Director of Human Resources Amy King will now be vice chancellor for Human Resources, and I will be working closely with Amy and her staff to make sure we have the best possible policies and resources for our community and that our staff members have a voice in all senior-level decision making.

My goal for the next year is to work intensely with our community to shape transformative directions and then to develop a strategic plan. I will also be working to expand our close ties with the city of Denver and to make connections in our donor community. Like every chancellor, I need to organize the senior staff both in response to my own abilities and to what I understand to be the needs of the institution. For me, ensuring that students, staff and faculty are being represented at the Universitywide level and making sure we have strategic alignment for support and oversight across the University are key priorities. I know that you may have questions about the new position and about the reorganization, and I look forward to discussing them with you as we work together to make the University of Denver even stronger. You can email my office with questions and comments.